Monday, July 04, 2005

Interesting headline given that the heart of the story is about a Ministry of Education study into why so many national parents send their children to private schools.

More than 360,000 children are educated privately in 500 schools in the country, including 60,000 UAE nationals, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Education. Expatriates have no option but to send their children to private schools.. . .The study was undertaken to establish why UAE parents chose to send their children to private schools in such large numbers. Parents gave a number of reasons, the most common being the belief that English was best learnt in private schools. . . . "Generally, parents revealed a desire to do the best for their children this was the underpinning motive that surfaced when they explained why they had chosen private schooling. The reasons given fall into four main categories: academic success, accountability of teachers and administrators, attitudes and behaviour, and the acquisition of social status," the study said. The study said private schools could hire and fire teachers as they saw fit.. . ."Some parents were dissatisfied about how well private schools were preparing their children to become citizens of the UAE, and the extent to which Arabic was being taught, and Islamic Studies were a part of the curriculum of private schools," the study said.